AFC East: Mid-Season Marks
The AFC East has been ruled by only one team in the past ten seasons. With the exceptions of the Miami Dolphins in 2008, the AFC East has been won by the New England Patriots since 2003. The Jets won the division crown in 2002, but that was before the Patriots had Tom Brady calling the shots on offense. Buffalo on the other hand, has not won a division title since 1995 when Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith ruled upstate New York.
This season the AFC East will probably be closer than it has in recent history. At this point in the season, after seven weeks played the Patriots lead the division with a record of 4-3, Miami is second at 3-3 and both the Jets and Bills are third with 3-4 records.
When the season started, it looked as though Buffalo might give the Patriots a run for their money as they signed Mario Williams the league’s best defensive end. He actually has not done too much this season to help and their defense looks poorer than it did last year.
Miami was supposed to finish last this season but both Reggie Bush at running back and Ryan Tannehill their rookie quarterback have overachieved and have the Dolphins sitting alone in second.
New York has had injuries to key players on both sides of the ball and that has had a great impact on the team. Both Santonio Holmes, their wide receiver and Darrelle Revis their cornerback have been lost to season ending injuries. However, even though their offense cannot get out of its own way at times, they still can compete with the league’s top teams.
New England is on top, but they have not played the type of football New England football fans are used to. They have had trouble finishing games and blew two games and nearly blew two others.
Going forward the division should see Bills sink deeper and end the year in the cellar. Many felt the team was a potential playoff contender, but now they will be lucky to win more than six games. The team has been blown out on three occasions.
The only two games they played well in were against the laughable Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs. Last week they allowed the Tennessee Titans to defeat them. They cannot get any worse this week since it’s their bye week, but then they have to come back to face New England and the Houston Texans in two consecutive road games.
The Dolphins won big against Oakland and lost big against Houston, but have been in four other very close games. However, they will have two straight road games starting this week against the Jets and then at Indianapolis. If they do well against those two opponents, they then will face four teams in consecutive weeks that have weak defenses. However, late in the season they face the likes of San Francisco, Seattle and two against New England.
The Jets should finish the season second in the division even though they have lost key players. They have wins over Buffalo and Miami and played well against both Houston and New England. If they can play tough they can hope that New England makes too many errors going forward. However, look for the Jets to finish the year in second and win 9 games. That still could be good enough to get them in the playoffs.
New England will win the division with a 10-6 record. They have a powerful offense, but their defense has blown four big leads in the fourth quarter. Their schedule gets harder going forward as they face the Jets and Miami on the road and then will be home to Houston and the 49ers.
Sit back and enjoy the ride, the AFC East should be competitive since all four teams have been nothing short of mediocre.
